indirectly, in aid of the contest they are waging, and
consequently that bill is a general confiscation of all property there.

As if afraid, however, that this general term might not apply to slave
property, it adds an additional section. Although they were covered by
the first section of the bill, to make sure of that, however, it adds
another section, declaring that all persons held to service or labor;
who shall be employed in any way to aid or promote the contest now
waging, shall be discharged from such service and become free: Nothing
can be more apparent than that that is a general act of emancipation;
because all the slaves in that country are employed in furnishing the
means of subsistence and life to those who are prosecuting the contest;
and it is an indirect, but perfectly certain mode of carrying out the
purposes contained in the bill introduced by the Senator from Kansas
(Mr. Pomeroy). It is doing under cover and by indirection, but
certainly, what he proposes shall be done by direct proclamation of the
President.

Again, sir: to show that all these proceedings are characterized by an
utter disregard of the Federal Constitution, what is happening around us
every day? In the State of New York, some young man has been imprisoned
by executive authority upon no distinct charge, and the military officer
having him in charge refused to obey the writ of _habeas corpus_ issued
by a judge. What is the color of excuse for that action in the State
of New York? As a Senator said, is New York in resistance to the
Government? Is there any danger to the stability of the Government
there? Then, sir, what reason will any Senator rise and give on this
floor for the refusal to give to the civil authorities the body of a man
taken by a military commander in the State of New York?

Again: the police commissioners of Baltimore were arrested by military
authority without any charges whatever. In vain they have asked for
a specification. In vain they have sent a respectful protest to the
Congress of the United States. In vain the House of Representatives, by
resolution, requested the President to furnish the representatives of
the people with the grounds of their arrest. He answers the House of
Representatives that, in his judgment, the public interest does not
permit him to say why they were arrested, on what charges, or what he
has done with them--and you call this liberty and law and proceedings
for the preservation of the